Watch as Gen. George Washington's final goodbye to his military officers is played out on the anniversary of the historic event.

Approximately 227 years ago, in 1797, George Washington – our first U.S. president – also became the first U.S. president to voluntarily cede the presidency to his successor. At the time, this was unheard of. For much of human history, power transitions were messy, violent affairs.

The list of European wars of succession runs into the hundreds, with kings and emperors serving for life, only to have their heirs mire entire nations in bloody conflict. At the time Washington submitted his resignation, Bavaria and the entirety of Austria had only recently emerged from such wars.

A contemporaneous revolution in France was engulfed in terror and turmoil. Africa and Asia were plagued by near constant conflict. And five of the 10 deadliest wars in history were Chinese civil wars, claiming tens of millions of lives.

The inauguration of George Washington as the first president of the United States, April 30, 1789. Also present are, from left, Alexander Hamilton, Robert R Livingston, Roger Sherman, Mr Otis, Vice President John Adams, Baron Von Steuben and Gen. Henry Knox. Original Artwork: Printed by Currier & Ives. (MPI/Getty Images)

America had been founded, in part, as a rebuke to all that terror. The Founders rejected monarchy – the idea that God had anointed any man or a family by birth to rule by violence over others. They instead embraced a radical idea: people are endowed by their Creator with inherent, unassailable worth. That Creator has given them individual rights – among them "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And government exists not to enforce the power of autocrats but to guard the rights of individuals.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1796, PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON ISSUES HIS FAREWELL ADDRESS

For the first time in history, a major power was formed on the idea that government exists "of, by, and for the people." Further, those intended to lead that government were simply stewards of the entities erected to protect the peoples’ sovereign rights. When representatives’ terms passed, they are not to........

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